Monster Island
Monster Island (怪物島(モンスターアイランド) Monsutā Airando ) is the fifth episode of the second season and the thirty-first episode of the series overall. It aired originally in Japan on May 26, 2002. It loosely adapts the "Monster Island" arc from the manga's 1967-1969 revival in Adventure King. Plot Summary While hunting for food, Great Britain and Chang Changku come across an unconscious hiker which brings the 00 Cyborgs into a journey to a mysterious island, where all sorts of strange creatures and massive monsters roam. Recap The episode begins with a traveler lost in an eerie forest on a dark night, having had his compass broken by the strange aura in the forest. He falls down a cliff and upon walking some more, he discovers a house with its gate deliberately left open. Unknown to him, after entering the territory, he is being watched with a squirrel with red eyes, which seems to be acting as a camera for an unknown group of creatures. The traveler finds what looks like an ailing person but is scared away when it turns out to be a zombie corpse who gives chase with the help of an additional group of them. He runs into a horned deer who shoots laser beams at him out of his eyes, and after running in the opposite direction he discovers a massive monster with glowing eyes as he screams for help. Meanwhile, in another area of the forest, Great Britain is irritated at both himself for letting Chang bring him on a mushroom hunt in a strange forest (so now they are lost), and Chang for eating the bread they had when they could have used the crumbs to keep track of their path. Suddenly they run into the same traveler from before, who tells the two cyborgs of the monsters he encountered when he is stung by a bug in the neck and falls faint. Great Britain grabs the bug with a hand, smashing it, and notices that its body is emitting a strange glow. After getting back to Dr. Gillmore's house that night, Great Britain and Chang wait with Joe Shimamura for news when Dr. Gillmore and Francoise Arnoul come out. Dr. Gillmore explains that he had diagnosed the traveler's condition as poisoning from a powerful heart-stopping substance, but luckily he was able to counteract the poison and the traveler is expected to recover tomorrow. Joe expresses suspicions that whoever poisoned the traveler must be working for Black Ghost; unfortunately there's no telling unless there is proof that it is indeed Black Ghost behind the poisoning. Great Britain suggests going back to the forest where they found the traveler tomorrow. The very next day, Joe and Great Britain have a hard time dealing with Chang's crazy truck driving as they drive to the forest's location. Great Britain, annoyed at the driving, insults Chang and his "junkie" truck, leading to an argument. When they come across the place Great Britain and Chang discovered the traveler, they discover a very unnatural fog. Great Britain decides to survey the area from the skies, and scouts the forest as a bird until he comes across the same house the traveler saw. As Joe, Chang, and Great Britain go through the gates, they are unaware that they are being watched by a group of humanoid animals wearing clothes from a monitoring building. Chang is soon scared by the same horned deer the traveler encountered, but when it started charging at them, Joe stopped it by delivering a karate chop to its back. Then when Joe noticed something glowing red, he shot at the source - a mechanical squirrel which has been serving as a secret surveillance camera. The trio runs deeper into the forest, hoping to lessen the attacks on them, when they run into an open area with zombie humans and zombie dogs. A fight ensues, ending with Great Britain transforming into a giant version of himself and attacking an equally large zombie, crashing into the settlement. In desperation, the humanoid group unleashes a mushroom-like weapon that shoots energy, causing a massive explosion. Joe and Chang escape, and believe that Great Britain was caught in the explosion, when said person appears out of the ground as a mole; he had escaped also at the last minute before the explosion occurred. They spot the mushroom weapon in the sky, and Great Britain orders Joe and Chang to go home while he chases after it. Late that night, Joe and Chang wait with the rest of the 00 Cyborgs for Great Britain to come home for dinner. All has heard of Joe and Chang's encounter with the strange creatures; Jet expresses his belief that Black Ghost is definitely involved. Dr. Gillmore speculates the possibility, when at that second Great Britain, burned and bruised, comes home and collapses on the floor. The next morning the 00 Cyborgs head out to sea on the Dolphin, where the mushroom weapon was last seen by Great Britain. After Jet Link and Pyunma head out to scout the area, Jet discovers a group of large dead fish floating on the surface. Suddenly he is attacked and dragged underwater by an even larger shark, but he is rescued by Pyunma ramming into the shark's body, releasing Jet. The event leads them to spot a strange island not far away, which Jet suspects to be man-made. While the 00 Cyborgs fly there on the Dolphin, they are attacked by giant seagulls and are forced to make a landing. Soon afterward Francoise detects a faint presence underground, which could be the mushroom weapon, so Chang takes out his personal drilling tank and digs through the ground while Francoise stays behind to watch over the Dolphin. After a perilous trip through the earth, including a 500 foot drop into an underground lake, the rest of the 00 Cyborgs manage to locate the mushroom weapon as well as the entrance to a secret base. They rush in, and are immediately confronted by the humanoid group, revealed as animals with human bodies. Though they are funded by Black Ghost, this group claims to be independent from and more sophisticated than the organization, and they command the monsters they created to attack the 00 Cyborgs. Seeking an end to the endless conflict, Joe finds the secret main control center and blasts the door open, before shooting at the control mechanisms and putting them out of commission. Joe demands that the creators of the monsters turn them back to their original forms, when the ceiling gives way to reveal the monsters. Since Joe destroyed the only method to control them, the monsters turn on their creators and presumably eat them alive, while the bigger zombies work on destroying the control center. As the island starts to fall apart, Joe tries to persuade the zombies from destroying the island and escape to safety, but he is dissuaded from doing so by Jet because of the futility of his efforts. The 00 Cyborgs run to Chang's drilling tank and barely escape the island, just mere seconds before it explodes. After being picked up by Francoise and the Dolphin, the group reflects on the events that happened to them. Jet notices a despondent Joe, feeling sad that he wasn't able to rescue the monsters, and cheers him up with the prospect of going home. Just then, Chang requests that he go find the huge fish Jet and Pyunma had found earlier and make a week-long supply of sushi for them, but the group declines, not wanting to worry Dr. Gillmore. Despite that, Chang prepares to jump into the ocean, only to be held back by Great Britain as the Dolphin departs for Dr. Gilmore's house. Notes * In the manga, this story originally took place after The Underground Empire of Yomi. Due to the re-arrangement of the story for the anime, any references to the Yomi arc were removed. Category:Cyborg Soldier Episodes Category:Cyborg 009 CS Season 2